...don't do it.

Don't friend them; don't poke them; don't tag them in notes; don't send them private messages; don't write on their walls.

You may think it would be cool to have a connection to someone who could lead your favorite team to sports glory, and it would be - if you had any real-world connection to them.  The vast majority of you have never met any recruits, but, thanks to the recruit-aratzi at Scout, Rivals, Scouts Inc. or (my personal favorite) Irish Sports Daily, you feel like you already know them.  So here's a test you should run before you click "Add as Friend."

Does the recruit know who you are?

If the answer is "No," stop your finger!

"Aren't you a little bit old to post "JK LOLZ" on a recruit's Facebook wall?"

What makes grown men act like this?  I steeled my nerve and took a cursory glance at the Walls of some Irish commits.

It shouldn't be loneliness or want of personal contact - most of the random posters had profile pictures that included them, their wife and their kid(s).

Maybe they think they're helping their team's cause.  Fighting the good fight on the frontlines of a recruiting war that gets more and more ruthless every day.  After all, creepy old fans from rival schools are posting on these kids' walls.

Here's a fact: I've never heard a recruit tell Steve Wiltfong that the deluge of friend requests he received from 30-year old men swung his commitment to the Irish.  In fact, I've only heard of Facebook hurting in recruiting battles.

(I'm not even going to address the kind of people who post nasty messages on the wall of a wavering verbal commitment.  There's not enough electro-shock therapy in the world.)

Look, generally I think Facebook is a good thing.  I'm all for anything that lets people catch up with once-forgotten friends.  Or maybe it isn't.  Recent studies have shown that anywhere between 5-20% of divorces filed today cite Facebook as a contributory cause.  I just wonder how many of those petitions were filed when a jilted wife found in the browser history that her husband was whispering sweet nothings about 40-year decisions and rich tradition in a private message to 17-year-old boy.

Probably not enough.